Maternal beliefs about adaptive and maladaptive social behaviors in normal, aggressive, and withdrawn preschoolers.

The purpose of this study was to compare mothers of normal, aggressive, and anxious-withdrawn preschoolers with regard to their beliefs about how socially competent behaviors are learned and their beliefs concerning the origins of two types of maladaptive behaviors--aggression and withdrawal. 121 mothers of 4-year olds were questioned about how they think social skills are acquired. They were also presented with descriptions of hypothetical incidents of peer-directed aggression and social withdrawal and asked what they would do about these behaviors, how they would feel about them, and how they would explain them. Children's social behaviors were observed during free play and rated by their teachers. A norm-based multitargeting procedure was used that resulted in the identification of 10 highly aggressive children, 6 highly withdrawn children, and 60 children who were average in social adaptation. Results indicated that mothers of withdrawn children were more likely than mothers of average children to believe that social skills should best be taught in a directive manner and that maladaptive behaviors should be responded to in a high-powered, coercive fashion. These mothers were also more likely than mothers of average children to indicate that they would feel guilty and embarrassed by displays of maladaptive behavior, and they attributed these behaviors to dispositional factors. Mothers of aggressive children suggested highly directive strategies to teach social skills, but were more laissez-faire than mothers of average and withdrawn children in their reactions to maladaptive behaviors.